Pen-point alloy



Patented Apr. 1, 1930 -iiN1T1 :'o s'rAras:

PPATENTOFFICE JOHN E. WOODWARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGINOR TO MESSRS; KASTENHU- BER & LEHRFELD, OF, NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A PARTNERSHIP CONSISTING OF CHARLES F. KASTENHUBER, WILLIAM F. LEHRFELD, AND HUGO R. LEHRFELD PEN-POINT ALLOY No Drawing.

5 One of the main objects of myinvention is to provide an economical osmium alloy for use as a pen point.

Another object of my invention is to provide an economical osmium alloy that is 1 tough, durable and which will take a high polish.

Another object of my invention is to provide a base alloy of nickel and tungsten that can be shipped to manufacturers of pen points who can then alloy the base alloy with osmium in the way I shall describe later.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an alloy of osmium with tungsten and nickel which will be tough, acid resisting,

have a durable wearing surface, take a high polish and be economical to produce.

And still another object of my invention is to provide a pen point made of an alloy osmium, tungsten. nickel and if desired plati- 85 num, which will take a high polish and have durable wearing surface, and be tough, fusible with great difiiculty, be readily capable of soldering or freezing to a gold ni and yet be economical to produce.

Still other objects of my invention will ap pear as the description proceeds; and while herein details of the invention are described and claimed, the invention is not limited to these.

36 It is a well known fact in the art of making 40 of osmium present therein. Osmium in the pure state is incapable of use in the above respect. It is too brittle and friable. fusion, and upon cracking or crushing, a pure .osmium button (or even the native osmiridium button) powders readily. This results in a very serious loss since these metals are rare and. precious,-and much of the powder gets lost.

It is therefore necessary to add a so-called After Application filed December 19, 1927. Serial No. 241,278.

order to give it the strength required'for practicable and economical commercial fuse. Toughening metals that have been added heretofore are either of two kinds (a) Metals of the platinum group 6) Base metals such as nickel, cobalt, etc., or any element or combination of elements which can impart the required strength and toughness to the osmium metal.

The objection to the use of the platinum metals other than osmium by themselves is that they are comparatively soft, and therefore reduce the hardness of the resultant alloy with osmium. The objection to the use of the base metals alone is that they do not form true solutions or alloyswith osmium. Thus upon cooling, segregation takes place and the resultant alloy is not of a homogeneous texture'. Consequently a high polished surface 0d of producing the same which will over- 7 come all the above obstacles. I have discovered a method of introducing a toughening alloy into the osmium metal whereby a perfectly homogeneous alloy is produced and what is mostimportant very little of the hardness of the osmium is lost.

I have found that altho the metal tungsten when melted with osmium does not form a true solution, yet if the tungsten be first dissolved in nickel. an alloy results which will form with osmium atrue solution and alloy. that will impart to osmium the desired toughness, homogeneous texture and durable wearing surface.

In fact a dual advantage is accomplished by my newly discovered process. It will be observed that I substitute a larger percentage of base metals for rare or semi-rare metals heretofore utilized in this art, and yet I am able to equal any of the characteristics of the expensive rare metal alloys.

It will further be noted that I provide a base alloy that can be shipped'as a sort of intermediate product to pen manufacturers, there to be alloyed with osmium to produce my novel alloy.

My process consists then in heating nickel 60 toughening agent or metal to osmium in (M. P. 14.84 C.) and adding thereto 'tungsten (M. P. 3500 C.) as the nickel fuses. The proportions for a given batch ofbase alloy, as I prefer to call this alloy of nickel and tungsten, is 75% of tungsten and 25% of nickel. At about 1900" C. it was found that a true solution took place. That is to say the base alloy melts at about 1900 C. It exhibits a uniform texture or polishing thus showing that it is free from segregation and is a homogeneous alloy. p

I then may chill the tungsten-nickel solution, or I may add the osmium metal. I use 80% of osmium (M. P. 2400 C.) and 20% of the base alloy for a given batch of my final alloy. I'find that at 2400 C.a true solution of osmium, tungsten and nickel results. The resulting alloy at this point, upon chilling, has a uniform homogeneous texture and takes a very high polish.

I can use other metals of the nickel group such as cobalt. I can likewise use other metals of the tungsten group as molybdenum. Altho I have given 80% of osmium as a preferable proportion of that metal, I have found that I can use from 70-85% of osmium and from 30-15% of my base alloy and still get good results.

To utilize my alloy a button of it is stamped, cracked or crushed to obtain pieces for freezing on to gold nibs and finishing as pen points and similar wearing surfaces.-

, I find that my alloy does not powder when crushed. I get an alloy which hangs together when crushed and does not powder. I get particles suitable for polishing and working. I, then, greatly reduce the loss due to powdering and yet use inexpensive materials. The texture is uniform and homogeneous and the surface of the pen point takes on a very high polish thus resulting in a smoothly writing point.

I desire to point out that platinum (M. P. 1745 C.) may be added to increase the toughness.

If so desired then it is added before a finished product is obtained that can then be used in the manner I have outlined above.

So also .I am not limiting myself to the temperatures mentioned above. I include within the scope of the appended claims any range of temperatures which will produce my novel alloy.

lVhat I claim is 1. An alloy comprising 80% of osmium; 10% of platinum; and 10% of a base alloy comprising 75 parts of tungsten to 25 parts of nickel.

2. An alloy comprising 085 of osmium; 10% of platinum; and 10% of a base alloy comprising 75 parts of. a metal of the tungsten group and 25 parts of a metal of the nickel group.

3. An alloy comprising 85% of osmium; 10% of platinum; and 5 to 20% of a base alloy comprising parts of. tungsten to 25 parts of nickel.

1. An alloy comprising 70-85% of osmium; 515% of a metal of the platinum group other than osmium; and 520% of a base alloy comprising 65-85 parts of a metal of'the tungsten group to 1535 parts of a metal of the nickel group.

5. An alloy comprising 545% of a metal the osmium is dissolved in the tungstennickel alloy in the proportion of 10%. Then 80% of. osmium is added. The base alloy would be present to the amount of 10%.

The characteristics of this alloy with added platinum are still preserved if the ranges of percentages of the ingredients of the final alloy do not exceed the following:

5-15% of tungsten;

1-5% of nickel;

515% of platinum; and

70-85% of osmium.

The osmium alloy need not be formed immediately after the nickel-tungsten alloy. After the base alloy has been formed, I can chill it, and ship it to pen manufacturers. In other words I thus provide a basic material or intermediate as a new composition of matter. Altho, this material may not be of much osmium in the proportions described above- 

